The move is not unexpected, given recent comments from Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Congressional panels as well as the demands from U.S. lobby groups... (never mind that Canada enacted anti-camcording laws in 2007, introduced C-61 last year, is an original negotiating partner in the ACTA negotiations, joined the U.S. as a third party in the WTO copyright complaint against China, etc.).

Geist also cites the Canadian government's 2007 objection to pressure applied by the USTR:

In regard to the watch list, Canada does not recognize the 301 watch list process. It basically lacks reliable and objective analysis. It's driven entirely by U.S. industry. We have repeatedly raised this issue of the lack of objective analysis in the 301 watch list process with our U.S. counterparts.

In a separate post, Geist calls the Priority Watch List designation absurd, noting figures which show Canada's piracy rate to be quite low compared to other nations:

The IIPA, the lead U.S. lobbyist on international IP matters, has issued a press release on the USTR Special 301 report, welcoming the inclusion of Canada on the Priority Watch List. Yet the release inadvertently demonstrates why the designation is so absurd...

compare Canada to the remainder of the list. Canada comes in at 32%... Not only is Canada not even remotely close to any other country on the list, it has the lowest software piracy rate of any of the 46 countries in the entire Special 301 Report...

Comments

To be honest, this is like America putting Iran on the 'Top Ten Worst Christian Countries' List.

It judges Canada by rules that don't even apply to them, and finds them somehow at 'fault' for refusing to adopt the same methods as the US does, and makes the arrogant assumption that the US method is somehow the 'correct' one.

It's a moronic government, albeit the most powerful in the world currently, caving to the demands of multi-billion dollar corporations that see this government as a tool to use to accomplish their own goals.

Iran is one of the worst places to live if you're Christian, and a quick google search reveals that that list is not a government sponsored one, or if it is it's based upon collected statistics by the government.

Great try, though. Next time distinguish between acts of the U.S. government, and acts of third party groups that live in the U.S.

You made that distinction, I didn't mention either way. The fact remains that Iran is not a Christian country, so trying to judge it by those standards is unfair, because it's a case of trying to one set of values to a completely different culture, same with this, it's trying to apply US Commercial values (or lack thereof) to Canadian behaviour, and saying that it is 'wrong' because it doesn't match up.

Because last year, our country came very close to passing legislation that was very close in scope to the US DMCA. However, right before it was due to be voted on, the minority Conservative government lost a confidence vote and an election was called. They did win another minority term but after the election, Jim Prentice, the Minister of Industry who was pushing for the bill was shuffled to another position and the bill effectively died. This list is a bit of spiteful retaliation which is why you see us on it and not countries like Brazil which have massive piracy problems.

Correction: Because they know that their own theory of each pirated copy is a lost sale is incorrect, and that people in those countries would not buy legal copies anyway even if no pirated copies were avaible.

Correction of your correction: Because those countries don't give a flying flip about what fat cat U.S. lawyers say. They're too busy with more important matters.

Our copyright law is utterly ridiculous, the modchip ban is going to sink the industry here. Modchips allowed unhindered homebrew development on the consoles, which meant we raised generations of game devs. Now...we're just screwed.

Wait, wait, does that mean that if an animation company makes one of their characters die tragically in a fire, the artist is guilty of murder?---I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.

---I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.

Thank you Mr. Geist for continuing to fight the good fight! He has been a very vocal opponent to ludicrious copyright initiatives like this perpetrated by greedy US companies trying to protect obsolete business models and he is also on the forefront of our fight for Net Neutrality in Canada as well. We have several major telcos in this country trying to go Time Warner on people's Internet service and he has been very vocally fighting against that. The more the clueless US media industry keeps trying stuff liek this, the quicker they'll get killed off.

Clever.---I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.

---I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.

Well, isn't it kind of natural for them to have the lowest percentage? I mean, they are the last country to be added so far. If their percentage had been higher, they probably would have been a higher priority and been put on the list sooner.

I don't think we really care. Even though I work in the games industry, I know that piracy is not something that can be legislated away. It can however be minimized by having respect for your customers and delivering a good product. Just look at the guys from Stardock.

Sadly, the US is becoming less and less relevant after the Bush administration. All they're doing now is shaking their fists at us. Why do you think China and others want a unified global currency?

I'm not trying to offend Americans. I'm just saying that you're not the world leaders you used to be.

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Morality has always been in decline. As you get older, you notice it. When you were younger, you enjoyed it.

"I don't think we really care. Even though I work in the games industry, I know that piracy is not something that can be legislated away. It can however be minimized by having respect for your customers and delivering a good product. Just look at the guys from Stardock."

This.

"Sadly, the US is becoming less and less relevant after the Bush administration...I'm not trying to offend Americans. I'm just saying that you're not the world leaders you used to be."

But now I think I'm confused...you're saying you preferred the Bush administration, or the aftermath of the Bush administration has made the U.S. less relevant on the global stage? Or am I totally missing your point here? :(

The Bush administration seems to have taken the US from a role model nation with a lot of clout to a withering shadow of its former glory with seemingly endless complaints that the rest of the world no longer wants to follow them.

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Morality has always been in decline. As you get older, you notice it. When you were younger, you enjoyed it.

As someone living in the US I have to agree. I was in sixth grade when Bush took office, and while I'm not a fan of either of the Democratic candidates he ran against in 2000/2004 so I can't say I would have definitely liked what they'd have with the country either, I feel like Bush ran this country into the ground. I was proud of my country as a child and growing up I started realizing that I really don't have much reason to be proud of it anymore.---I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.

---I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.

I get annoyed with DRM. If I buy a DVD, WHY can't I rip it to my PC to store it safely on my hard drive? Why can't I stick it on my iPod to watch it on the move? I've PAID for the movie once already, why should I pay 3 times just to be able to do what I want with it? Do I get 3 different versions, no, it's the same damn movie. What justification do they have for trying to make me pay 3 times?

It's that sort of stuff that has actually ENCOURAGED me to pirate more and more, at least the uploaders don't try and dictate how I use the media I get from them!

When you buy a DVD, you are buying a license to use one copy of that movie. By ripping it to your computer, you are making a copy that you have not licensed. The same when you convert it for your iPod. You now have two copies your did not buy a license to use. If you want to watch a copy on your computer or iPod you have to buy a license to watch that movie on those platforms.

From a consumer's standpoint, they are not buying a license to use one copy of a movie. They are buying a license to view that movie in their household. If they make a copy of the movie to view on their computer or iPod and still own the original media, they are fine. That is the consumer's view.

Personally, I find nothing wrong with that consumer view. To me it seems to be within the relm of fair use. However, if that user copies the movie to their computer and sells off the original media and still retain that digital copy, they are stepping on hot coals. That to me is direct defiance of copyright.

Bascially because we won't let our various industries dictate the laws to us we should be on the watch list? Is there piracy in Canada? yes, is there Piracy in the US? of course there is. The problem is more and more companies are getting greedier and greedier and want the consumer to have fewer and fewer rights, my friends have kids, but according to the movie companies he shouldn't be able to backup his own movies, he has 2 kids, one 2 one 4, how long do they honestly think a DVD lasts in his household? I backup my games, and sometimes Pirating is easier than dealing with 20 layers of DRM protection "well first you need to install secuROM, then you need a key for the game, oh then you have to activate it online, and then every 20 minutes the game connects to the net to make sure you aren't pirating the game. And the DRM might make it so the game you paid 50 bucks for doesn't work on your system or it crashes every 10 minutes or if you look at the system wrong, this is just to make sure you're playing fair and not stealing our game." now I don't like piracy but who's to say what Piracy is? In my mind I'd like to purchase a product which actually works on my system without installing tons of background "security apps" without my permission! And for those unaware, installing software which may damage a system in any way,shape or form, without informing the user, is illegal, it's classed as electronic tresspassing. But hey why should any of us have any legal rights? we are just consumers afterall...

Psychos will always be psychos; they don’t need video games to help them. -SCOTT RAMSOOMAIR, GameCore interview, Mar. 7, 2005

Psychos will always be psychos; they don’t need video games to help them. SCOTT RAMSOOMAIR, GameCore interview, Mar. 7, 2005

That's because the gaming industry considers their "rights" to be more important than actually fulfilling their obligation to their consumer to deliver a product that works as advertised. Instead, it's so critically important to these fuckers that they protect what they see as theirs that they're willing to prostitute the quality of their product just to make sure that you arent' doing something with it that will have zero effect on them anyway.

Their profits are more important than whether or not their product works properly, which means that they have absolutely no objection to putting DRM on media because, quite frankly, they don't give a shit if it messes with your enjoyment or ability to play the game or not.

It's obvious that the anti-piracy spin is just a smokescreen for what the real purpose is. Now I know there are some stupid people in positions of power, but I find it hard to believe that all these companies and organizations don't see that anti-piracy efforts don't have any effect on piracy at all.

Cmon, everyone knows how much videogame publishers hate second hand sales. You all remember that interview with Reggie right?

"Consumers shouldn't need second hand sales because our games are so great. These sales simply hurt the consumer."

"What if you got a cut?"

"O yeah, that would be fine then."

They really really want those sales instead of people buying used copies of new releases for 5 bucks cheaper. And hey, if you can't transfer your copy of the game to someone else, it makes it a little easier for them right?

Back in the SNES days, a huge amount of games I played were from trades among friends. Not so much anymore.

They aren't going along with the ESA's demands of them either. Are you REALLY going to go with an "if you're not for us you're against us" policy here?---I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.

---I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.

Shout box

Infophile: @Matt: Apparently Dan Aykroyd actually is involved. We don't know how yet, though, but he's apparently going to be in the movie in some way.08/02/2015 - 4:17am

Mattsworkname: I still hold that not having the origonal cast invovled in any way hurts this movie, and unless the 4 actresses in the lead roles can some how measure up to the comic timing of the origonal cast, i just don't see it being a success08/02/2015 - 12:46am

Mattsworkname: Mecha: regardless of what you think of it, GB 2 was a finanical success and for it time did well with audiances ,even if it wasnt as popular as the first08/02/2015 - 12:45am

MechaTama31: I think they're better off trying to do something different, than trying to be exactly the same and having every little difference held up as a shortcoming. Uncanny valley.08/01/2015 - 11:57pm

MechaTama31: Having the original cast didn't do much for... that pink-slimed atrocity which we must never speak of.08/01/2015 - 11:56pm

Mattsworkname: Andrew: If the new ghostbusters bombs, I cant help but feel it'll be cause it removed the origonal cast and changed the formula to much08/01/2015 - 8:31pm

Andrew Eisen: Not the best look but that appears to be a PKE meter hanging from McCarthy's belt.08/01/2015 - 7:34pm

Mattsworkname: You know what game is a lot of fun? rocket league. It' s a soccer game thats actually fun to play cause your A Freaking CAR!08/01/2015 - 7:02pm

Mattsworkname: Nomad colossus did a little video about it, showing the world and what can be explored in it's current form. It's worth a look, and he uses text for commentary as not to break the immerison08/01/2015 - 5:49pm

Mattsworkname: I feel some more mobility would have made it more interesting and I feel that a larger more diverse landscape with better graphiscs would help, but as a concept, it interests me08/01/2015 - 5:48pm

Andrew Eisen: Huh. I guess I'll have to check out a Let's Play to get a sense of the game.08/01/2015 - 5:47pm

Mattsworkname: It did, I found the idea of exploring a world at it's end, exploring the abandoned city of a disappeared alien race and the planets various knooks and crannies intriqued me.08/01/2015 - 5:46pm

Andrew Eisen: Did it appeal to you? If so, what did you find appealing?08/01/2015 - 5:43pm

Mattsworkname: Its an interesting concept, but it's not gonna appeal to everyone thats for sure,08/01/2015 - 5:40pm

Andrew Eisen: That sounds horrifically boring. Doesn't sound like an interesting use of its time dilation premise either. 08/01/2015 - 5:36pm

Mattsworkname: an observer , seeing this sorta frozen world and being able to explore without any restriction other then time. no enimes, no threats, just the chance to explore08/01/2015 - 5:34pm

Mattsworkname: Andrew: I meant lifeless planet, Time frame is an exploration game. Your dropped onto a world which is gonna be hit by a metor in 10 seconds, but due to time dilation ,you actually have ten minutes, so you can explore the world, in it's last moments, as08/01/2015 - 5:32pm